By Morlai Sesay
The Government of Sierra Leone has on Friday the 1st of December, 2023 announced via correspondence about the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Freetown with the Chinese company called China Road and Bridge Corporation and the architectural firm of the Atépa Group for the construction of 1.5 Billion Dollars Freetown-Lungi Bridge project.
The much anticipated Lungi bridge project is part of His Excellency, President Julius Maada Bio’s Big 5 vision to improve Sierra Leone’s Technology and infrastructure that links the capital with the important Lungi airport hub and ease the transport flow of international and local travelers.
According to the government of Sierra Leone, the Freetown-Lungi Bridge would be 8 km long, with an estimated investment cost of about $1.5 billion.
The bridge is said to become a pathway for sustained economic growth and is to complement the New Freetown International Airport commissioned on March 3, 2023, by His Excellency the President, Dr Julius Maada Bio. The ultramodern airport, which cost $270 million, replaced the outdated and unfashionable Lungi Airport built in 1945.
Quite apart from that, the government also intimated that the feasibility study of the project would be completed in the next few months, and, barring unforeseen delays, construction will commence in the last quarter of 2024. The project is estimated to take about three years to complete from the start date.
The Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation is undoubtedly among the largest engineering and construction firms globally and operates in more than 50 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. It is a member of the Fortune 500, ranking 61st.
The Atépa Group, including the architectural firm, is also believed to have several globally renowned projects to its credit, including the Banjul Airport (Gambia), the headquarters of BCEAO in Dakar (Senegal), the ECOWAS Fund headquarters in Lomé (Togo), and the Monument of the Renaissance, also in Dakar. It has offices in several countries in Africa and Asia.
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